If you are interested in donating a piece to our collections, please contact our Executive Director & Chief Curator Denis Longchamps at 519-746-1882 x231 or director@theclayandglass.ca. Walk-ins are not encouraged.
At the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, we aim to collect, exhibit, research, promote, and preserve work by Canadian artists and makers in clay, glass, and vitreous enameling.
We generally accept contemporary (made after 1950) Canadian works that are made entirely or partially of clay, glass, or enamel. In some cases, we accept works by international artists as comparisons and representations of international practices. We have four collections at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery: The Permanent Collection, The Study Collection, The Archives, and The Sinclair Family Library.
When a donation is proposed, we determine which collection each object is best suited to. Our Permanent Collection holds over 1,500 works and objects by contemporary Canadian artists and makers. The Study Collection houses pieces that fall outside of the scope of our permanent collection. Our Study Collection is available for community members and educational programs. The Archives hold documentation connected to our collection and broader Canadian clay and glass-based arts. The Sinclair Family Library includes books, exhibition catalogues, and periodicals relating to clay, glass, and enamel practices within Canada and internationally. Due to storage constraints, we are sometimes limited in the objects we can accept for our collections. For example, we do not typically accept more than three pieces by the same artist into our Permanent Collection.
We are a not-for-profit institution and as such all donations made to our collections are tax deductible. At the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, we are certified to hold Canadian Cultural Property. This designation to given to artworks and objects of Canadian cultural significance.
To learn more about Canadian Cultural Property and to learn if your proposed donation might qualify for Canadian Cultural Property certification, click here.
If you are interested in applying for cultural property with your donation and want to learn more contact Peter Flannery, Curator & Collections Manager, at 519-746-1882 x235 or peter@theclayandglass.ca or Katherine Marshall, Registrar at 519-746-1882 x228 or collections@theclayandglass.ca.
The Process
Once a proposed donation is made our process is undertaken to gather information, present each proposed donation to our Acquisitions Committee, and then the work is either accessioned into one of our collections or returned to the donor.
- Our acquisitions committee is made up of local artists, craft professionals and experts, and community members. This committee meets approximately every four months to decide which pieces should be acquired by the Gallery in accordance with our mandate, current holdings, and collections policy. If the Committee approves a donation, the Gallery will move ahead in the acquisition process.
- The complete acquisition process can take six to twelve months depending on when the donation was proposed. A tax receipt will be issued to a donor in February of the following year.
- After a piece is accepted or rejected by the Committee, the piece will either be returned to the donor, or a Deed of Gift will be sent, signing over the legal ownership of the work to the gallery.
- The credit line or recognition of the accepted donation should be indicated by the donor on the Deed of Gift. If you wish to remain anonymous, please indicate this on the Deed of Gift. If you are an artist donating your own work, you may also be asked to sign an Exhibition and Reproduction Licence.
- Once the piece is acquired and the Deed of Gift is signed, the gallery will appraise recent acquisitions and issue a tax receipt for the fair market value of each piece. Works acquired in the previous year are appraised each January and tax receipts are sent to donors in February. The Gallery does not provide financial advice.
For information on bequeathing to the gallery, please visit our Legacy Giving page.